The Hindu : Learn from ASEAN, says PM

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 12, 2003

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Learn from ASEAN, says PM

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI NOV. 11. Without mentioning Pakistan, the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, today inaugurated the third South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Information Ministers' Conference here today with a call to the participating countries to learn from the ASEAN example and that of post-Cold War Europe where political differences and bitter hostilities are set aside to evolve arrangements for regional and sub-regional cooperation.

Stating that "post-Cold War alignments and the technology revolution have set in motion trends which we can ignore only at our peril'', the Prime Minister while dwelling at length on the need for economic cooperation also made out a case for ensuring "that our populations have a free access to all the media platforms in our region''.

Of the view that a free flow of information, news, views and perspectives could do more for regional cooperation than any political exhortation, Mr. Vajpayee suggested regular SAARC news programmes on national television and radio stations. In this way, the media "can be a powerful force for information rather than propaganda, for education rather than prejudice, for awareness rather than misinformation''.

The reference to the media and a brief mention of the agenda apart, the thrust of Mr. Vajpayee's speech was on economic cooperation as "this has immediate relevance to Information Ministers'' given the crucial role media played in moulding opinion and shaping public attitude.

Lamenting that SAARC had been unable to "emerge from the concept to the practical reality of close regional cooperation'' since its inception, Mr. Vajpayee said that "if SAARC cannot organise itself, it will simply miss the boat''. Stressing the need to harness the region's abundant natural resources, talented human energies and industrial synergies to accelerate growth and development in member-countries, he warned that "other alignments will develop to seize the economic opportunities offered by closer integration; we cannot forever be challenging logic and mocking economics''.

He invited all SAARC neighbours to take part in India's economy, "rather than be apprehensive about it'', and reiterated the nation's willingness to enter into preferential trading arrangements and free trade agreements within the SAARC framework and individually with member-countries.

Earlier, the Union Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting, Ravi Shankar Prasad, stressed the need for encouraging a free flow of information and creativity in any form — films, music, etc. — as it helps people-to-people contacts. Also, he called for a free movement of creative people in the region.

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